Reviews with content warning for Blood - We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence

Another unfortunate unsolved murder and rape of a young Harvard female student. If it wasn’t for a legend type of story kept alive in the halls of Harvard, our writer Becky Cooper would never have started digging. While I found Cooper’s writing to be great and cohesive, the book itself felt way too long. Or at least the section that the book were divided into would have been easier for me to digest if broken up a little more. Which could have been an issue I ran into because I listened to the audiobook instead of reading the hardcopy. I also found some of the tangent, although sort of related, stories that Cooper included to be a little too much. However, the intrigue and mystery surrounding the story really came alive through Cooper’s writing. Unfortunately, the ending and the conclusion of the crime felt very anticlimactic in both reality and how the information was presented in the book. While well written, I just felt unsatisfied upon finishing the book, which I guess I can’t really blame the story for. I would still recommend this one, but I would maybe suggest try reading the hardcopy first.

Content Warnings

alylentz's review

Go to review page

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

This was very well-written and definitely kept my attention, but I was surprised how much of it was a true crime investigation and how little it was about systemic coverups (though there were very important discussions re: sexual harassment in academia and how those spaces are often hostile to women). I think part of it was just a mismatch in marketing... if you're reading to learn about a Harvard cover-up, there actually isn't very much of that and I would definitely characterize it as more of a first person true crime cold case investigation. So I understand why there is so much of the author in this book, I feel like sometimes it worked better than others. The parts about going on a dig and visiting Jane's grave worked so well that when there were discussions about bachelor parties and boyfriends they stuck out more to me.

Content Warnings

More...